Construction material cost in Chile and what is available

[Irishman]

Will pm you space cat

[Dosedmonkey]

I seen an episode of myth busters a while back where they went in to an old concrete trucks where the concrete had setup inside the drum to see if they could get it out. They tried jack hammers, saws, and then finally loaded it full of explosives. The top blew off, but the concrete was still inside.

I have seen that episode also. I wish I could blow things up at work... intentionally. Ha.

There is chemical cement remover available. But in ship holds you normally get in a specialist, even for a small patch of set cement, because it is way to easy to cause expensive damage to the ships super structure.

This is another interesting way to remove cement I just found on google...
http://www.martin-eng.com/sites/default ... cement.pdf


Re-insulation Space Cat, I know its colder down your way, but I got to say, since I've moved in to this house, I only used the gas heating the first two nights, before I sealed off some of the excess ventilation and sealed the windows and doors better. I've been surprised how well insulated this relatively cheap build has been. Cement outer walls and floors, with interior plasterboard, and single glaze PVC windows seems to be all you need in Santiago region, if they properly sealed the windows and doors with rubber P-shape strips. Cost me about 10 mil in strips, and used some bubble rap for a few positions, job done, made money back in one weeks worth of gas.

I have kept the ventilation open to the loft spaces, as there has been problems with eaves getting moist, rotting and collapsing, thats why you'll find new builds having big ventilation on the lofts all around the world now.

[Space Cat]

Re-insulation Space Cat, I know its colder down your way, but I got to say, since I've moved in to this house, I only used the gas heating the first two nights, before I sealed off some of the excess ventilation and sealed the windows and doors better. I've been surprised how well insulated this relatively cheap build has been. Cement outer walls and floors, with interior plasterboard, and single glaze PVC windows seems to be all you need in Santiago region, if they properly sealed the windows and doors with rubber P-shape strips. Cost me about 10 mil in strips, and used some bubble rap for a few positions, job done, made money back in one weeks worth of gas.

I have kept the ventilation open to the loft spaces, as there has been problems with eaves getting moist, rotting and collapsing, thats why you'll find new builds having big ventilation on the lofts all around the world now.

Here in Valdivia we have lots of 0ºC nights and chilly mornings, so even double-glazed PVC is not enough to keep it warm without heating. (But the walls are warm, the roof is insulated very well and there're absolutely no holes.)

We're using 750w infrared heater 24/7 and temperature is ok most of the time (3 small rooms + big kitchen). But I'm thinking about upgrading next winter to a vented kerosene heater or maybe a pellet-based stove (though I don't want to add to this horrible smoke pollution).

[Gloria]

We're using 750w infrared heater 24/7 and temperature is ok most of the time (3 small rooms + big kitchen). But I'm thinking about upgrading next winter to a vented kerosene heater or maybe a pellet-based stove (though I don't want to add to this horrible smoke pollution).

Pellets are not very available in Valdivia, we already did our homework. You'll find them but sometimes in a small bags at Sodimac and pricey. You could order them in bulk but only a couple of places would sell them but expensive, no discounts.We also inquired about propane gas central heating but you have to go thru some hoops and is very expensive, a major investment. Wood for us is totally out of the question. The only time I would use it would be to send a message to the Indians so we decided to go with a Toyotomi that covers about a 100 sq meters or so. Because our home is small, well insulated and the air flows to every room, the house feels very cozy. The big plus is......you get instant source of heating!

[Space Cat]

We're using 750w infrared heater 24/7 and temperature is ok most of the time (3 small rooms + big kitchen). But I'm thinking about upgrading next winter to a vented kerosene heater or maybe a pellet-based stove (though I don't want to add to this horrible smoke pollution).

Pellets are not very available in Valdivia, we already did our homework. You'll find them but sometimes in a small bags at Sodimac and pricey. You could order them in bulk but only a couple of places would sell them but expensive, no discounts.We also inquired about propane gas central heating but you have to go thru some hoops and is very expensive, a major investment. Wood for us is totally out of the question. The only time I would use it would be to send a message to the Indians so we decided to go with a Toyotomi that covers about a 100 sq meters or so. Because our home is small, well insulated and the air flows to every room, the house feels very cozy. The big plus is......you get instant source of heating!

Could you please share the model name of your Toyotomi? I saw many different ones ranged from $300,000 to $900,000.

[Gloria]

LC 51 or better.

[HybridAmbassador]

Toyotomi Laser vented kerosene heater. Toyostove Laser 73 / 730 for house size 1800 ~ 2000 sq feet works as a charm.

The Toyostove Laser 73 is the largest output wall furnace available from Toyotomi. The Toyostove Laser 73 can heat up to 2000 Sq. Ft. of living space for a fraction of alternative heat sources. The Toyostove Laser 73 is a sealed combustion or direct-vent system that uses only outside air for combustion and vents combustion gases directly to the outdoors. This modern high-efficiency model provides safe, comfortable warmth for zone heating or whole house heat.
https://www.toyotomiusa.com/factoryOutl ... uct_id=158

[HybridAmbassador]

Double posting. Deleted...

[Gloria]

Toyotomi.cl instead.
http://tienda.toyotomi.cl/product_info. ... cts_id=134

[Gloria]

One little detail. Because it works with a laser/electricity in the event of power shortage you'll need a back up such a propane gas heater or a generator.

[admin]

I have several friends with various pellet systems. they work great when they work. Last year there was a sudden shortage of pellets all over the south. I have been hesitant to go with them, simply because the market in the south can be flaky. things come and go from the market for long periods. That said, the supply did increase after that as lots of little producers took up the slack. Still, I can just see after say a big earthquake or something, the pellets disappearing for weeks or months at a time.

There are pellet burners however that will do wood or pellets.

As long as you have some other back-up heat source, or at least a heavy sweater, they should be fine 99% of the time in the south.

I was thinking a few months back about just how much energy and time goes in to getting a load of fire wood in Chile to heat a house. several Guys go and cut (typically) old growth trees in the forest (or super water loving eucalyptus ), often someone else's trees (poaching off private property or national forest). chain saws (gas has to be used), perhaps some splitting. more gas used to get the guys to the forest. they stack it at least once on site, or move it around near the cutting site. At some point they put it on a truck (stack it again) and hall it out of the forest (more gas used). It arrives at your house, wet, and it gets stacked again (at this point something like 100-200 kilos of wood, has been moved 4-5 times, plus splitting, which is like moving 2,000+ kilos per cubic meter of wood, and it has not even made it to the fire yet). so perhaps you decide to store the stuff for a year or two to dry out; which most people do not do, so it yields about 25-50% of the true energy potential of dry wood. Perhaps you have to split it again to make it burn, more energy. There is perhaps at least one more stacking operation after splitting to move it near the house, before moving it all again in to the house to burn. Spend another 10-30 mins getting a fire going (the wetter the better).

Figure something like 10+ hours of labour at least, and several gallons of gas go in to each cubic meter of wood. All to produce more carbon contamination in cities that can not handle it, cutting down less carbon holding trees, to not really produce all that much energy, and burning the equivalent of a couple gallons of gas to get it. When it was all said, and done, the gas burned to retrieve the wood in the first place likely had more energy in it than the wood that was retrieved. Really amazing the price of wood is not higher.

[Space Cat]

I have several friends with various pellet systems. they work great when they work. Last year there was a sudden shortage of pellets all over the south. I have been hesitant to go with them, simply because the market in the south can be flaky. things come and go from the market for long periods. That said, the supply did increase after that as lots of little producers took up the slack. Still, I can just see after say a big earthquake or something, the pellets disappearing for weeks or months at a time.

What would be your ideal heating system here? The one that will be useful even after a big earthquake in the middle of an abnormally cold winter.